Falcons Prevail in Shootout Over the Broncos After 4-4 Tie

Friday, January 22

Bowling Green, Ohio

7:05 PM

Bowling Green State University

Western Michigan

Senior David Solway (above) helped lead a Falcon charge in a shootout win (3-2), Friday night over the WMU Broncos

January 22, 2010 | Ice Hockey

By: by Ryan Gasser, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

Box score
James Perkin post game audio
Dennis Williams post game audio

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green Falcons returned to the BGSU Ice Arena for the first time in near one month in a home series against the Western Michigan Broncos to begin on Friday night. In a roller coaster type ride through three periods, an overtime session and a shootout, the Falcons finished with a 4-4 tie but came away with two points towards their conference standings with a 3-2 shootout win over Western Michigan.

The Broncos scored the first goal of the game after only 1:26 of play when Dane Walters red-lighter put WMU on top, temporarily, 1-0. Though the lead remained for the next 16:07 of play, the Falcons went on a run of three unanswered goals following the WMU tally.

Brennan Vargas (So., F) lit the lamp for the Falcons and tied the game at one following a penalty shot he was awarded in the 18th minute. The Broncos' Mike Levendusky was called for holding and given the nature of the penalty, Vargas was awarded a one-on-one visit with WMU goaltender Riley Gill. On the ensuing penalty shot, Vargas took a slow and methodical approach to the net and with a swift move on Gill caught him leaning enough to put the puck between the goalie's legs for the score.

Though the last Falcon to convert a penalty shot was Greg Day against Northern Michigan (2/22/02), the last successful penalty shot against the Broncos was by Illinois-Chicago's Jeff Nelson on Oct. 17, 1987.
After the start of the second period, the Falcons doubled their lead at the 3:20 mark when Kai Kantola (Sr., F) led a charge on an “all-senior”, power-play goal. Following a move down the ice, Kyle Page (Sr., D) received a pass from Tomas Petruska (Sr., F) and while camped out on the point, Page went near-side post with a hard slap shot that was redirected into the back of the cage by Kantola for his third goal of the season. The score gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead and Page his tenth assist of the season, tying a career high.

Another BGSU sophomore inserted his name into the scoring column just 31 seconds later. Playing with both teams at even strength, Cameron Sinclair (So., F) scored his second goal of the season to create a 3-1 Falcon lead. After acquiring the puck following a wraparound shot, Sinclair found the puck on his stick and proceeded to perform a toe drag maneuver around a Bronco defender giving him a clear shot at the net. Sinclair then sniped the puck into the Bronco net past Gill's gloveside giving the Falcons the lead, 3-1 at 3:51 in the second period.

The Broncos ended their scoring drought with a power-play goal at 16:46 in the second period scored by Tyler Ludwig and assisted by Greg Squires and Max Campbell, one of three assists Campbell had on the evening. It also would be their first of three consecutive goals with an extra skater on the ice for the Broncos.

Bowling Green returned the favor with a power-play goal of their own by junior forward David Solway late in the seventh minute of the third period. The Falcons fourth goal was created by good puck movement and a rebound follow up when Petruska and Jordan Samuels-Thomas (Fr., F) exchanged passes before Samuels-Thomas fired a shot on goal for Gill to save. The rebound kicked out to Solway in the right-center slot where he plugged it home five-hole on Gill for a 4-2 Falcon lead.

Bowling Green was five minutes away from victory before WMU began a comeback to tie the game in regulation. A delayed penalty call on Bowling Green prompted the Western Michigan bench to pull Gill out of the net and give the Broncos one extra skater to play with until BGSU touched the puck. With the extra skater, the Broncos moved the puck around until Matt Tennyson acquired it and sent a quick wrist shot past Nick Eno (Jr., G) at 15:50 in the third period. The score was Tennyson's first of the season.

As the last remaining minute ticked to close, the Broncos put up a late fight and again pulled Gill out of the net to give them an extra man on the ice. With three seconds left on the clock, the Falcon defense pinched in on the puck while three Broncos crept into the slot. Ludwig, who scored the Broncos' power-play goal earlier, put a shot on net that was initially saved by Nick Eno, but the rebound allowed Squires to clean up the loose puck and beat Eno, tying the game at four goals.

Regulation ended and overtime gave each team a pair of chances to make the game-winning goal count, but neither team would surrender a score. Eno made a pair of overtime saves while his counterpart, Gill, made three. The game would end in a tie by NCAA accounts, but a shootout would determine who went home with two points that night.

Shootout recap:

ROUND 1:
WMU - #26 - Squires - SAVED (Eno)
BGSU - #5 - Solway - GOAL

ROUND 2:
WMU - #8 - Campbell - GOAL
BGSU - #18 - Petruska - SAVED (Gill)

ROUND 3:
WMU - #10 - Crew - GOAL
BGSU - #21 - Samuels-Thomas - GOAL

ROUND 4:
WMU - #21 - Ludwig - MISSED
BGSU - #7 - Perkin - GOAL

With the 3-2 shootout win, the Falcons take two points home with them to extend their lead over WMU in conference points to three. They now stand with an overall record of 3-18-4 with a 2-13-4-3 record in conference play. The Broncos now reside with a 6-12-5 record (2-11-4-1, CCHA).

The Falcons and Broncos return to the ice Saturday afternoon for an early start at 5:05 p.m. EST at the BGSU Ice Arena.